I.. Am God?

To see such a powerful beast eyeing his sister, sweat trickled down Rein's entire body.

"The power of the Boundless Serpent is wasted on her." Rein heard the beast say coldly.

"Boundless Serpent?" Rein was confused at what the Soul Tiger said because there was no such thing or spirit as a Boundless Serpent written anywhere in their literature.

"See?" Seeing his cluelessness about it, the Dragon Soul Tiger knew that its point was proven. "Give me the Boundless Serpent, and I shall spare your pitiful and short lives."

Rein still had in his eyes a look filled with stubbornness, not even giving consideration to what the Saint Beast offered.

Seeing this, the Saint Beast felt that he had wasted enough time. Growling, it raised its paws and slammed at the incredulous Rein.

Seeing the Saint Beast attack, He placed his sister in front of him and rolled back. Rein glared at the Saint Beast and roared, "Don't even try to harm my sister!"

He retreated and kept a large distance between them and the Dragon Soul Tiger. Before the Saint Beast started to run towards them, assuming his stance, he brandished his hands. Out of thin air, a dark wood staff appeared. Layered with intricate lines, it gave off an archaic pressure to the surroundings.

The Saint Beast narrowed its eyes when it saw the staff, "Iron Suppression Wood." It growled.

'It grew pensive.' Rein thought as he immediately took his chance and struck the staff into the ground.

"Elenil sirfux…" As he chanted, the lines that were carved on the staff began to emit a green glow as energy flowed up from the ground into it.

Around them, a dense amount of energy gradually converged into a dome-like area. Noticing what the human was doing, the Saint Beast roared and charged at them.

Without flinching, Rein continued to chant. As the tiger approached, thick vines suddenly shot out from the ground to restrict the Saint Beast's movement.

But, as a Saint Beast, it wouldn't be that easy to stop its rampage.

The tiger lashed out, and broke free from the vines and resumed its charge.

Rein's hands rapidly gesticulated, creating different hand formations to manipulate the laws of nature.

Stone pillars rose from the ground and pushed the Dragon Soul Tiger back, successfully enraging it. "Roar!"

Opening its mouth, the Dragon Soul Tiger gathered a dense and destructive ball of light before blasting it towards them.

Boom! The stone pillars that impeded it were vaporized, and not even crumbs or dust were left.

The Saint Beast sped up as it was already feeling the restrictions falling down on it.

"Roar!" The Saint Beast, seeing that it might not reach them in time, let out a mighty and soul-rending roar.

The dome dispersed, and the light gathering on the Iron Suppression Wood dimmed. Rein's complexion turned pale, gripping his heart tightly.

Suddenly, he remembered something. He looked down, and saw something that he has dreaded for years.

Her sister's body slumped on his chest. Her arms flailed lifelessly. It was cold, her body.

"N-No… Please, no.." Rein's voice hoarsely called out to her while he shook his head shakily. He held her by her nape, and hugged her.

"A pity. You left me with no choice." The Dragon Soul Tiger spoke emotionlessly, "I wasn't planning on using a soul attack because it would kill that weak girl and the Boundless Serpent. What a waste." It walked towards them slowly, letting him grieve yet not letting them off.

"No!" Rein's wail reverberated throughout the mountain. A strong wave of emotions spread out across hundreds of kilometers.

"Hmm?" The Dragon Soul Tiger's eyes widened as he became the first being to feel the boy's anguish. Pain assaulted its heart, causing it to back off.

When it realized what it just did, it became enraged even more, "It's time for the two of you to be gone." It breathed in, preparing to let out a huge roar.

But before it could do so..

"Who dares to interrupt my cultivation?" An elegant and captivating voice suddenly echoed from the highest point of the mountain, just a hundred kilometers above them.

Looking above, they saw what looked like a fairy descending from heaven. The woman had black hair cascading down to her feet. Her eyes glistened with gold as she gazed at them with a questioning look.

"W-Who are you?!" The Saint Beast roared threateningly.

"Hmm?" The woman chuckled, "How disrespectful of you to shout at the master of the mountain." She said with amusement.

"Owner of the mountain?" The Dragon Soul Tiger was confused at first, but suddenly, his eyelids widened with shock, and with a stutter, it called out, "G-Goddess?"

"At least you still acknowledge my existence here as the Goddess." The woman, Guin, smiled.

Fearfully, the tiger lowered its body and shouted pleadingly, "This lowly cat is sorry, Goddess! I apologize for my rude behavior just now!"

Without acknowledging the tiger, Guin descended and stopped in front of the kid that was looking at her with reddened and apprehensive eyes.

"Oh, how pitiful." Guin sighed, "She has potential, but she didn't escape the siphoning of the Boundless Serpent."

She then tilted her head and turned to look to the side. Her eyes showed a look of shock. She waved her fingers and beckoned from somewhere behind a rock.

Rein gazed with incredulity as he saw a flower with blue petals floating towards them. It had a yellow pistil surrounded by a faint white stamen. Floating atop it was a small blue flame, dancing in a circle.

"Eternal Soul Flower.." Rein gasped, "It was just there all this time?"

"A garden of it. You didn't notice?" Sharon replied as-a-matter-of-fact.

Hearing her, Rein fainted.

When he woke up, he noticed that he was inside a cave. The blue-flamed bonfire crackled, illuminating the surroundings.

"You're awake." Rein flinched and looked at the mouth of the cave. He tried to stand up, but it was no good.

"Don't force yourself, kid." Guin laughed as she extended her hand forward. On her hand was a purple-colored orb that was emitting a strong spiritual energy.

"What is that?" Rein asked with confusion. "Your sister." She replied to him perfunctorily.

"What?!" Rein gasped in shock as he quickly grabbed the orb. "I was waiting for you to wake up, so I gathered your sister's soul that was retrieved from the Eternal Soul Flower and mended it."

Tears swelled up Rein's eyes as he caressed the orb, "I-I'm sorry I didn't make it in time, Anna." He whispered with brittleness.

"I could reform her body if you want, but that would be a waste." Guin suddenly butted.

"Y-You can?" Rein's eyes lit up.

"Yes. But that would cause her to return to her old weak and frailty state." Sharon nodded and replied.

"Why?"

"Her contract spirit, the Boundless Serpent, isn't meant to be contracted." Sharon answered, "Boundless-type spirits are meant to be free spirits, that's why they are called Boundless in the first place."

"If contracted, the Boundless Spirits would only suck the spirit energy and soul of its host, therefore becoming a parasite."

"On the other hand, if fed to the supposed-to-be host, their strength of their soul would not only just double, it would reach a ten times increase."

"Because your sister contracted it, it sucked the strength out of your sister's soul, permanently damaging it. I was only able to mend your sister's soul because of the Boundless Serpent and Dragon Soul Tiger's soul."

"If I reform your sister's physical body, it would only destroy her potential."

"What Potential?" Rein asked her with an expectant gaze.

"Because of the fusion, your sister has already become a Spirit, a strong one at that." Guin replied. "By fusing the Boundless Serpent and the Dragon Soul Tiger, I have essentially created a Boundless Flood Dragon Spirit, something that could be considered as a top-tier spirit even in this world. With your sister's consciousness and soul within it, your sister and the Boundless Flood Dragon Spirit have become one and the same."

"Time will come, and your sister will reach a tall peak in the universe, equal to Ninth-Heaven existences." Guin smiled as she explained with pride. This was the first time she had done an Eternal Spirit-Level Fusion, and she immediately created a top-tier one.

"Ninth-Heaven?" Rein asked with visible confusion.

"Oh, right. My bad." Guin chuckled. She started to explain to him the extent of the universe in a limited sense as to not break his mind.

"..and there, we are gods, rulers of dimensions, wielders of Faith. Trust in us, and you will have strength." Rein's mouth was widened the entire time. His view of the world has been shattered, and to know that they are but within a realm inside a small world made him shudder, thinking of the endless expanse of the universe.

"Then, what's the point of living?" He muttered to himself.

"Oh no, I broke him." Guin thought to herself.